BROOKLYN -- The frustration and disappointment of a 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season not living up to expectations showed on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s face during a promotional stop in Detroit two weeks ago.

NASCAR's most popular driver has not won in a year, lost his crew chief and even questioned whether he is worthy of the seat in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

The pressure that comes with trying to live up to expectations of his fans, sponsors, boss and even himself will be with Earnhardt as he tries to defend his title in the LifeLock 400 at 2 p.m. today at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

"It's not really overwhelming or suffocating," Earnhardt said of the pressure to win. "It's tough. Your fuse gets a little bit short sometimes.

"The hardest part is just trying not to bite everybody's head off because you snap at someone who is just trying to help you."

DALE EARNHARDT JR. FILE

Who: Driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet.

Age: 34

Hometown: Kannapolis, N.C.

Points: 20th in 2009 Sprint Cup Series

Best Cup finish at MIS: First, June 2009.

Ten times two: Today's start will be the 20th Cup Series start at MIS for Earnhardt. His father started 43 Cup races at MIS and won twice.

Slump buster?: Earnhardt's win at MIS last June broke a 76-race win drought in the Cup Series. He's 0-for-14 this year.

In the days leading up to his cousin Tony Eury Jr.'s dismissal as crew chief for Earnhardt on May 28, the two spoke with team owner Rick Hendrick.

The options laid out by Earnhardt included the possibility of firing NASCAR's most popular driver.

"Me and Tony Jr. knew our situation was delicate," Earnhardt said. "He and I told Rick to do whatever he needs to do. He runs this thing as a business.

"We were going to work hard to try to fix it and get better, but whenever you decide that something needs to happen, you just make the change you want to make."

Hendrick decided to keep Earnhardt and change the team's signal-caller, Eury. The change came in the week after Earnhardt finished a season-worst 40th at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.

"We have to perform for our sponsors," Earnhardt said. "There are so many expectations out there for us to run well from our fans and our sponsors that we can no longer continue at this pace."

It is not exactly the series of events Hendrick envisioned when he hired Earnhardt to take over for Casey Mears before the 2008 season. Earnhardt was hired to complete Hendrick's dream team that already included past Cup champions Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Mark Martin was added in 2009.

Earnhardt's first season with Hendrick resulted in a fourth-place season finish in the points chase. This year, Earnhardt is 20th and in danger of falling out of the Chase.

He's leading Mears  the guy he replaced  by just two points in the standings.

"Nothing is different than last year," Earnhardt said. "It's kind of like looking down out of the boat and into the lake. You can only see down about a foot, and the problem lays 6, 7, 8, 10 feet down, and you just can't see it."

Earnhardt has just win with Hendrick, last year's LifeLock 400 at Michigan  a fuel mileage race Earnhardt won because he coaxed nearly every drop of gas out of his car.

"This pressure is the worst kind of pressure because the better you have your teams do, and then you have a team falling behind, then the world feels you aren't paying attention to it," Hendrick said. "I take that personally.

"I can tell you this is the most pressure that I've felt in racing since I don't know when."

Earnhardt will be paired with crew chief Lance McGrew, at least through the end of the 2009 season.

"I don't know whether this situation, this combination, could be amazing," Earnhardt said.

The early returns for the McGrew-Earnhardt racing marriage are mixed. Earnhardt finished 12th and 27th in his first two races without Eury calling the shots.

"I don't care who you are," Hendrick said. "You can get in a situation when you just get so frustrated, nothing seems to work. We're going through this change to see if we can spark some magic."

Earnhardt just wished that magic could have happened with his cousin at his side.

"We felt a lot of pressure when we went to Rick's to work," Earnhardt said. "We jumped in with both feet and really felt like we were going to make it happen.

"It's really, really disappointing that it didn't work out like we wanted."